The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy
Book Review (Matthew D. Taylor)
What is the religious background that explains January 6, 2021, and the insurrection of Capitol Hill?
That seems to me to be the question that Taylor's book sets out to answer, and it's an eye-opening journey into a slice of Christianity that, for me, is so close and yet so far away and so strange.
To talk about 'Trump' and 'Evangelicals' is puzzling to me as an Australian outsider, because our flavour of 'evangelical' is very much shaped by an Australian-British theological tradition, not an American one. Apart from other Australian-American differences, it makes the culture gap, and the understanding one, quite large.
But Taylor's analysis begins by talking about 'four quadrants', which if I am recalling correctly (forgive me, I listened to this as an audiobook, and it's much harder to go back and find things on audio than in print), are a denominational axis and a charismatic axis. So we have denominational non-charismatic, non-denominational non-charismatic (a pretty small quadrant, I would think), denominational charismatic, and non-denominational charismatic. It's this fourth quadrant where Taylor spends his time.
He traces the origins to the J6 moment [let me clarify early, as Taylor does late in the book, that he in no way thinks that this religious dimension is a total or sufficient explanation for the insurrection] back originally to C. Peter Wagner, and his shift to charismatic beliefs in the 1970s, along with an embrace of '5-fold ministry' (the idea that the offices in Ephesians are enduring and necessary for today's church, in particular that there must be contemporary prophets and apostles); association with John Wimber, who went on to found the Vineyard churches (which, ironically perhaps, became a denomination); embrace of spiritual warfare shaped by non-denom charismatic leaders, especially Cindy Jacobs; and lastly his development of the New Apostolic Reformation as a movement.
The book traces the connections between various leaders, most of whom are self-styled Apostles or Prophets, their lives, ministries, connections to Wagner, key ideas or contributions, and ultimately how they influenced, or were present at, J6. That 'tracing' involves a tour through figures such as Paula White, Lance Wallnau, Dutch Sheets, Lou Engle, Ché Ahn, and Sean Feucht, and concepts such as the New Apostolic Reformation, the 7 Mountain Mandate, and so on.
Much of this is very much on the fringe of my awareness. And, indeed, Taylor talks about how this was fringe American Christianity, but in a vivid metaphor, "the fringe has become the rug". 4th Quadrant Christianity of this kind has taken shape of the last 40 years and taken the 'center', it has become mainstreamed, and in doing so paved the way for the militarisation of spiritual language and the westernization of faith.
Taylor doesn't offer a theological take-down of these figures, but he does offer critique: as a researcher and a Christian and a believer in democracy, he is weaving this account to highlight how this form of Christianity is a threat to democracy itself precisely because of its beliefs. Those beliefs amount, as Taylor puts it, to "Christian supremacy" - the belief that Christians, and I could add "our kind of Christians" are 'better people' and so should be in charge of society, including government.
It may seem odd, then, that the NAR figures ended up supporting Trump. There's a bit of a story in that too, from Trump's appreciation for televangelists, his longstanding personal relationship with Paula White, and the way Trump outmanoeuvred more 'traditional' republican candidates, and the 'Cyrus Anointing', an idea predominantly linked to Wallnau, the belief that even though Trump isn't (much of? any of) of a believer, like Cyrus from Isaiah 45 he is anointed to enact and wield power for Christian purposes. This view of the 7 mountains and supremism is that you don't have to get a believer into power in every part of society, just someone who'll do what you want. Trump is that man for the NAR.
Should you read this book? I think if you're an American you should. I think if you're any stripe of American Christian you double-should. To understand the landscape of American Christianity, and the tectonic shifts that have taken place, and the decline and moral and political failure of more 'traditional' or 'established' evangelicals (e.g. denominational ones), and their complicity in the rise of Trump, requires understanding how these outsiders with radical and extreme views, theologically and politically, have taken over, and a creating a world in which accusing your opponents of being controlled by demons and demon-possessed is only going to lead to more and more violence in the name of the prince of peace.
Naturally I was curious what Taylor has been doing in the last few years, and since the second Trump presidency began. The good news for you is that he has a short 25-minute documentary that covers much of the material of this book. There’s also a 90min lecture on “Has Evangelical Christianity become a threat to American Democracy” that might interest you. I would be fascinated to know what he thinks about this current moment.